A trade war is an

economic conflict Economic warfare or economic war is an economic strategy used by belligerent states with the goal of weakening the economy of other states. This is primarily achieved by the use of economic blockades. Ravaging the crops of the enemy is a classic ...

often resulting from extreme

protectionism Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations ...

, in which

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

s raise or implement

tariff A tariff or import tax is a duty (tax), duty imposed by a national Government, government, customs territory, or supranational union on imports of goods and is paid by the importer. Exceptionally, an export tax may be levied on exports of goods ...

s or other

trade barrier Trade barriers are government-induced restrictions on international trade. According to the comparative advantage, theory of comparative advantage, trade barriers are detrimental to the world economy and decrease overall economic efficiency. Most ...

s against each other as part of their commercial policies, in response to similar measures imposed by the opposing party. If tariffs are the exclusive mechanism, then such conflicts are known as customs wars, ''toll wars'', or ''tariff wars''; as a reprisal, the latter state may also increase the tariffs. Trade war arises only if the competitive protection between states is of the same type and it is not valid in case of dumping exports. Increased protection causes both nations' output compositions to move towards their

autarky Autarky is the characteristic of self-sufficiency, usually applied to societies, communities, states, and their economic systems. Autarky as an ideology or economic approach has been attempted by a range of political ideologies and movement ...

position. Minor trade disagreements are often called trade disputes when the war

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...

hyperbolic Hyperbolic may refer to: * of or pertaining to a hyperbola, a type of smooth curve lying in a plane in mathematics ** Hyperbolic geometry, a non-Euclidean geometry ** Hyperbolic functions, analogues of ordinary trigonometric functions, defined u ...

. Trade wars could be escalated to full conflict between states as evidenced in the Massacre of the Bandanese after alleged violations of a new treaty. The

First Anglo-Dutch War The First Anglo-Dutch War, or First Dutch War, was a naval conflict between the Commonwealth of England and the Dutch Republic. Largely caused by disputes over trade, it began with English attacks on Dutch merchant shipping, but expanded to vast ...

was caused by disputes over trade; the war began with English attacks on Dutch merchant shipping but expanded to vast fleet actions. The

Second Anglo-Dutch War The Second Anglo-Dutch War, began on 4 March 1665, and concluded with the signing of the Treaty of Breda (1667), Treaty of Breda on 31 July 1667. It was one in a series of Anglo-Dutch Wars, naval wars between Kingdom of England, England and the D ...

was for control over the seas and trade routes, where England tried to end the Dutch domination of world trade during a period of intense European commercial rivalry. The

Fourth Anglo-Dutch War The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (; 1780–1784) was a conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic. The war, contemporary with the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), broke out over British and Dutch disagreements on t ...

started over British and Dutch disagreements on the legality and conduct of Dutch trade with Britain's enemies in that war. The Shimonoseki Campaign after unrest over the shogunate's open-door policy to foreign trade. The

First Opium War The First Opium War ( zh, t=第一次鴉片戰爭, p=Dìyīcì yāpiàn zhànzhēng), also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Chinese Qing dynasty between 1839 and 1 ...

which started after the

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

government blockaded its ports, confiscated opium contraband and confined

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

traders, resulted in the dispatch of the

British Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

to China and engage the Chinese Navy in the

Battle of Kowloon The Battle of Kowloon () was a skirmish between British and Chinese vessels off the Kowloon Peninsula, China, on 4 September 1839, located in Hong Kong, although Kowloon was then part of the Guangdong province. The skirmish was the first armed ...

. The First Opium War eventually led to the British colony of

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, and the

Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War or ''Arrow'' War, was fought between the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and the United States against the Qing dynasty of China between 1856 and 1860. It was the second major ...

, which arose from another trade war with the same underlying causes, expanded the

British possessions A British possession is a country or territory other than the United Kingdom which has the British monarch as its head of state. Overview In common statutory usage the British possessions include British Overseas Territories, and the Commonwe ...

on the island.

Examples from the 1920s

German–Polish customs war

One example of a modern tariff war occurred in the 1920s and 1930s between the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

(Germany) and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, in the

German–Polish customs war The German–Polish customs war was a political and economic conflict between the Second Polish Republic and the Weimar Republic, which began in June 1925 (shortly after the death of German president Friedrich Ebert from SPD) and ended officiall ...

of 1925 to 1934. In the Weimar Republic,

Gustav Stresemann Gustav Ernst Stresemann (; 10 May 1878 – 3 October 1929) was a German statesman during the Weimar Republic who served as Chancellor of Germany#First German Republic (Weimar Republic, 1919–1933), chancellor of Germany from August to November 1 ...

(

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

from 1923 to 1929) wanted to force Poland to give up territory by creating an economic crisis; to achieve this, the Germans increased tolls on coal and steel products developed there. As a reprisal, the Poles increased toll rates for many German products. This led to the rapid development of the port of

Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...

, which was the only way Poland could export its goods to Western Europe without having to transport them through Germany.

The U.S. Fordney–McCumber Tariff

U.S. President

Warren G. Harding Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he was one of the most ...

signed the

Fordney–McCumber Tariff The Fordney–McCumber Tariff of 1922 was a law that raised American tariffs on many imported goods to protect factories and farms. The US Congress displayed a pro-business attitude in passing the tariff and in promoting foreign trade by providi ...

bill (named after

Joseph Fordney Joseph Warren Fordney (November 5, 1853 – January 8, 1932) was an American Republican politician from Saginaw, Michigan. He represented Saginaw County and the surrounding area of Central Michigan in the U.S. House of Representatives for twent ...

, chair of the

House Ways and Means Committee A ways and means committee is a government body that is charged with reviewing and making recommendations for government budgets. Because the raising of revenue is vital to carrying out governmental operations, such a committee is tasked with fi ...

, and Porter McCumber, chair of the

Senate Finance Committee The United States Senate Committee on Finance (or, less formally, Senate Finance Committee) is a standing committee of the United States Senate. The committee concerns itself with matters relating to taxation and other revenue measures generall ...

) in September 1922. In the end, the tariff law raised the average American tariff rate to 38 percent. Trading partners complained immediately. Those injured by

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

said that, without access for their exports to the American market, they would not be able to make payments to America on war-time

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

s. But others saw that this tariff increase would have broader deleterious effects. Democratic Representative

Cordell Hull Cordell Hull (October 2, 1871July 23, 1955) was an American politician from Tennessee and the longest-serving U.S. Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years (1933–1944) in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevel ...

said, "Our foreign markets depend both on the efficiency of our production and the tariffs of countries in which we would sell. Our own ightariffs are an important factor in each. They injure the former and invite the latter." Five years after the passage of the tariff, the U.S.'s trading partners had raised their own tariffs by a significant degree.

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

raised its tariffs on

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

s from 45% to 100%,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

raised tariffs on American goods by 40%, and Germany and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

raised tariffs on wheat. This customs war is sometimes cited as one of the causes of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

Dispute settlement mechanisms

* Compromis *

Economic integration Economic integration is the unification of economic policies between different states, through the partial or full abolition of tariff and Non-tariff barriers to trade, non-tariff restrictions on trade. The trade-stimulation effects intended by ...

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

, predecessor of the European Union **

EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement The EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) is a free trade agreement signed on 30 December 2020, between the European Union (EU), the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), and the United Kingdom (UK). It Provisional application (tr ...

(post-Brexit) *

Free trade agreement A free trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating state (polity), states. There are two types of trade agreements: Bilateralism, bilateral and Multilateralism, m ...

s **

Free-trade area A free trade area is the region encompassing a trade bloc whose member countries have signed a free trade agreement (FTA). Such agreements involve cooperation between at least two countries to reduce trade barriers, import quotas and tariffs, and ...

s **

List of multilateral free-trade agreements A multilateral free trade agreement is between several countries all treated equally, and creates a free trade area. Every customs union, common market, economic union, customs and monetary union and economic and monetary union is also a fre ...

* GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) (1947–present; modified by WTO formation in 1994–1995) *

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...

, created in the 1990s to avoid customs wars, which are counterproductive in net effect ** History of the World Trade Organization (1990s-present, after decades of efforts to fill the vacuum of the absence of such an institution) **

Dispute settlement in the World Trade Organization Dispute settlement or dispute settlement system (DSS) is regarded by the World Trade Organization (WTO) as the central pillar of the multilateral international trade, trading system, and as the organization's "unique contribution to the stability ...

***

Dispute Settlement Body The Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) makes decisions on trade disputes between governments that are adjudicated by the Organization. Its decisions generally match those of the Dispute Panel. Institutional stru ...

of the WTO **

List of WTO dispute settlement cases This is a chronological list of World Trade Organization dispute settlement cases. , there have been 631 such cases. List References {{Reflist WTO The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in ...

International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) is an international arbitration institution established in 1966 for legal dispute resolution and conciliation between international investors and States. ICSID is part of ...

* Investor-state dispute settlement *

Trade and Investment Framework Agreement A Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) is a trade pact that establishes a framework for expanding trade and resolving outstanding disputes between countries. TIFAs are often seen as an important step towards establishing Free Trade ...

TRIPS Agreement The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is an international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It establishes minimum standards for the regulation by nat ...

United Nations Commission on International Trade Law The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) (French language, French: ''Commission des Nations Unies pour le droit commercial international (CNUDCI)'') is a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly, U.N. Gene ...

List of trade wars or trade disputes

Pre-20th century

* Anglo-Spanish Wars (1568–1807) *

Anglo-French Wars The Anglo-French Wars (1109–1815) were a series of conflicts between the territories of the Kingdom of England (and its successor state, the United Kingdom) and the Kingdom of France (succeeded by a France, republic). Their conflicts spanned t ...

(1100–1815) * Anglo-Dutch Wars (1652–1784) *

Opium Wars The Opium Wars () were two conflicts waged between China and Western powers during the mid-19th century. The First Opium War was fought from 1839 to 1842 between China and Britain. It was triggered by the Chinese government's campaign to ...

(1839–1860) * Byzantine–Bulgarian war (894-896)

20th century

Japan–Korea disputes There have been a number of significant disputes between various Koreanic and Japonic states. The two regions have a long history of relations as immediate neighbors that has been marked with conflict. One of the most significant issues is the ...

(1876–1945) *

Banana Wars The Banana Wars were a series of conflicts that consisted of military occupation, police action, and Interventionism (politics), intervention by the United States in Central America and the Caribbean between the end of the Spanish–American W ...

(1898–1934) * Pig War (1906–1908), a trade war between the

Kingdom of Serbia The Kingdom of Serbia was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Principality was ruled by the Obrenović dynast ...

and

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

(1925–1934), a trade war between the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

and the

Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act The Tariff Act of 1930, also known as the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act, was a protectionist trade measure signed into law in the United States by President Herbert Hoover on June 17, 1930. Named after its chief congressional sponsors, Senator Reed ...

(1930), a United States Act implementing protectionist trade policies *

Anglo-Irish trade war The Anglo-Irish Trade War (also called the Economic War) was a retaliatory trade war between the Irish Free State and the United Kingdom from 1932 to 1938. The Irish government refused to continue reimbursing Britain with land annuities from f ...

(1932–1938) *

Chicken War Chicken War or Hen War () is the colloquial name for a 1537 anti-Jagiellon dynasty, royalist and anti-Absolute monarchy, absolutist ''rokosz'' (rebellion) by the Poland, Polish nobility. The derisive name was coined by the ''Magnates of Poland a ...

(1960s), U.S. versus European Economic Community

21st century

* Tuna-Dolphin GATT Case (I and II), part of a larger tuna trade war (1970s–present) * Canada–United States softwood lumber dispute (1982–present) *

Beef hormone controversy The beef hormone controversy or beef hormone dispute is a disagreement over the use of growth hormones in beef production. In 1989, the European Communities banned the import of meat that contained artificial beef growth hormones, although th ...

(Beef War) (1989–2008) * Canada–Australia salmon trade dispute (1995–2000) * Japanese Sound Recording Trade Disputes (1996–1997) * Broomcorn brooms dispute (1996–2014) * Catfish Dispute U.S. versus Vietnam (2001–present) * Brazil–United States cotton dispute (2002–2014) * US–Mexico Trade Dispute – Stainless Steel Sheets and Coils dumping (2006–2009) * EC-IT product dispute (2008–2010) * Milk War (2009) * Trade war over genetically modified food (2010–2011) * South Africa–Brazil Frozen Chicken Trade Dispute (2012) * Argentina–United States lemon dispute (2012) * Rare earths trade dispute (2012–2015) * Russian embargo of Ukrainian goods (2013–present) * Mexico–United States sugarcane trade dispute (2014) * Australia–China trade war, (2017/18–2024) * Tariffs in the first Trump administration (2018 U.S.-Canada trade dispute) *

Japan–South Korea trade dispute The Japan–South Korea trade dispute, also known as the Japan–South Korea economic war, was an Trade war, economic conflict between Japan and South Korea. There are different cited causes behind the conflict. The Japanese government removed ...

(2019–2023) *

China–United States trade war An economic conflict between China and the United States has been ongoing since January 2018, when U.S. president Donald Trump began Tariffs in the first Trump administration, imposing tariffs and other trade barriers on China with the aim of fo ...

(2018–present) *

Tariffs in the second Trump administration During Second presidency of Donald Trump, his second presidency, United States president Donald Trump enacted a series of steep Protective tariff, protective tariffs affecting nearly all List of imports of the United States, goods imported into ...

(2025–present) *

2025 United States trade war with Canada and Mexico A trade war involving the United States, Canada, and Mexico began on February 1, 2025, when U.S. president Donald Trump signed orders Tariffs in the second Trump administration, imposing near-universal tariffs on goods from the two count ...

(2025–present)

References

Bibliography

* *Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. (2005). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved October 15, 2005, fro
Encyclopædia Britannica Online
*Perju, Genoveva Elena, Retaliatory Disagreement Point with Asymmetric Countries: Evidence from European Wine Sector During Enlargement (June 15, 2009). Available at SSRN: or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1435993 {{Authority control Economic warfare Customs duties Metaphors referring to war and violence